Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Well that's the line you will hear and I will say that should work, just as it did for Giuliani when he wanted to cancel the 2001 mayoral election due to 9/11. But that gave us Bloomberg so, hmmmm.

Anyway - that is what you will be hearing in the schools from Unity over the next few months. In their ideal world there will never be elections. But then there is the embarrassment of a one party system. So they like to have a loyal opposition if possible.

When Ed Notes went rogue around 2001 they used to claim Bloomberg was funding me.

In 2013 I caught a Unity official leaving anon comments attacking a few MORE candidates. You might hear all kind of rumors spread by Unity and their quasi-allies about MORE and its candidates.

Like they serve fetal body parts at their meetings.

The Unity pals in Philly running on the Jerry Jordan slate are facing opposition for the first time in ages - from Working Educators (WE) and are pushing the same kind of crap against them.

Dispelling Rumors, Correcting Misinformation

Because it's been so long since the last PFT election, many rank and
file members are unfamiliar with the process of choosing their union
leadership. As a result, we've encountered a lot of questions and points
of confusion that deserve a response. Read on to find out what people
are saying, and whether it's true or not.

Should I hand my ballot over to my Building Rep or Political Liaison? They're asking me to.
We respect the efforts that people are making to ensure that voter
turnout is good. However, we find it straight-up disturbing that
somebody would come between you and the secure delivery of your ballot.
And letting somebody fill out your ballot for you is just
crazy. Why would you hand your democratic right to vote over to somebody
else? Arrange a ballot fill-out and mailing party at your building,
come to one of our happy hour events on Friday Feb. 5th, and feel free to show people your sealed envelope. But send it off personally, please.The bottom line: putting your ballot anywhere else but inside a
USPS mailbox means it might not get delivered. Don't let anyone come
between you and your vote.

Will the PFT know how I voted? The answer here is an absolute NO. When you send back your ballot,
you will be placing it in two envelopes: first in an anonymous ballot
envelope, and then in the prepaid mailing envelope. This second, outer
envelope gets scanned upon delivery. This ensures that the ballot
mailbox isn't being stuffed. That envelope is then removed and
discarded, leaving only your anonymous ballot. AAA will have a record of
who sent in a ballot, but NOT how you voted.Unfortunately, we have had several reports of PFT members trying
to intimidate voters by telling them "the PFT is watching you and how
you vote." If you hear that in person, please let the offender know that
they are both a bully and a liar.

If WE win, will everybody in the PFT offices get fired?
Again, the answer here is an absolute NO. We are interested in
retaining as much of the current staff as possible, especially the
administrators and secretaries who have kept things running "behind the
scenes" all these years. Think of it this way: when we elect a new
President of the United States, do all government workers get the axe?
Certainly not.Unfortunately, several PFT staffers have explicitly stated, even
threatened, that they will quit if WE wins the election. We are troubled
to think that partisan loyalties would overrule whatever sense of duty
and service staffers might have to the membership.

Where did the caucus get the money for this campaign?
The answer: from the rank and file of the PFT, and the friends and
family who care about them. Seriously -- hats off to our fundraising
team, but they didn't have to go sell their souls or make a single
handshake deal to secure the funds we needed. Most of it was raised in
tens and twenties at the dozens of house parties, happy hours, and other
events we have had. We've raised about $30,000 total, the bulk of which
is being spent on our citywide mailers.Craziest rumor to dispel:No, we did not accept, nor were we offered, any donations from PSP. There is no version of the universe where that would happen.

How did the caucus get my home mailing address?
According to PFT election procedures,
any caucus running a slate may pay to send out campaign materials to
the membership, though a third party. So technically, we didn't get
everybody's address -- we sent our materials to a company that mailed it
for us. CB team has to do the same thing.

If you haven't received a campaign mailing from WE yet, call AAA as soon as possible to confirm you are on their ballot list: 215-731-2280. People who have called were able to get immediate confirmation.

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UFT Election Vote Comparison: 2004-10

A Personal Historical Perspective

Why Karen Lewis Reads Ed Notes

"A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

What media call "philanthropy" for the public schools are actually seed monies to establish a private "market" in publicly-financed education - an enterprise worth trillions if successfully penetrated by corporate America. Cory Booker, one of the "New Black Leaders" financed by the filthy rich, is key to creating a "nationwide corporate-managed schools network paid for by public funds but run by private managers.

"Ed Reformers" want to cash in on public education and to control its content and outcome, not improve it. Provide great education? Baby boomers had as close as this country has ever gotten to it when we were growing up. The Ed Reform Movement has no interest in seeing such a well-educated, democratically astute population ever again.

History of the UFT Pre-Weingarten Years

This award-winning series of articles by Jack Schierenbeck originally appeared in the New York Teacher in 1996 and 1997.

Naturally, from a certain point of view. But, despite certain biases, Schierenbeck, a great guy, was one of the best NY Teacher reporters so this is worth reading. Jack suffered a debilitating stroke many years ago (I used to get secret donations to ed notes from him through a 3rd source.)

“The schism in the union over radical politics [is] a major reason for stalling the growth of a teacher union for decades.” Revolutionary politics and ideology take center stage, as the original Teachers Union becomes a battlefield, pitting leftist against leftist and splitting the union.

Clarence Taylor's "Reds at the Blackboard" focused on the old Teachers Union which disbanded in 1964 after suffering from anti-left attacks.

Effective Union Organizing

A video series put together by Jason Mann from the British Columbia Federation of Teachers about social media and how to use it for effective union organizing.

The first series was called New Media For Union Activists Roadmap and it's still available on-line at:http://www.newmediabootcamp.ca/welcome/I watched some of them and need to rewatch as they are loaded with information.

The second series started last week and it's called "Online Campaigning for Union Activists"

You Don't Have A Choice - Join the Revolt

Hedges says, There are no excuses left. Either you join the revolt taking place on Wall Street and in the financial districts of other cities across the country or you stand on the wrong side of history.

Ex-Harlem Success Teacher Comments on Eva the Diva

I am a former Harlem Success teacher. Not many people who work/worked for her like her very much. I once made the comment that she is very nice when I first was hired. Two of her closest colleague responded immediately almost in unison, "Eve is not nice!" Over time I realized that there was a lot of political games going on. Another colleague once said to me that he was tired of "being part of a political campaign." Sending out 15,000 applications for only 400 seats in a school is reprehensible. The money that paid for those mass mailings could have paid the yearly salary of another teacher not to mention the heartache of all those parents who applied but did not get a spot. She does good work trying to give disadvantaged students a quality public school education but at a great cost to staff AND the school's educational budget! school budget.

GEM's Julie Cavanagh Debates E4E member on NY1 on LIFO and Seniority

Davis Guggenheim Compared to Riefenstahl

“Waiting for Superman" is the second most intellectually dishonest piece of documentary work I have seen. It is surpassed only by Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will," the pro-Hitler propaganda classic, in that regard. Uses personal narratives of adorable children to create narrative suspense that overrides public policy discussion with pure emotion in unscrupulous attack on teachers and their unions, among others

Timothy TysonProfessor of African American Studies and HistoryDuke University

A Familiar Voice on Unions

"We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries and take away their right to strike"- Adolf Hitler, May 2, 1933

How Teaching Experience Makes a Difference

Even as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and others around the nation are arguing for experienced teachers to be laid off regardless of seniority, every single study shows teaching experience matters. In fact, the only two observable factors that have been found consistently to lead to higher student achievement are class size and teacher experience, so that it’s ironic that these same individuals are trying to undermine both.- Leonie Haimson on Parents Across America web site

Outsource our children

Weingarten/Gates Foundation announce drone-driven teacher evaluation

According to a press release issued by the Gates Foundation, the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, these three have entered a ground-breaking partnership to evaluate teachers utilizing the drone technology that has revolutionized warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. A bird-size device floats up to 400 feet above a classroom and instantly beams live video of teachers in action to agents at desks at Teacher Quality Inspection Stations established by the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

When asked if the drones were authorized to drop bombs on teachers who exhibit inadequacy, Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, replied, "Don't be ridiculous. Gates money puts other methods at our disposal."

Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.5-million-member American Federation of Teachers said the powerful union has signed on to the drone project...

Teacher Value-Added Data Dumping by Norm Scott

The Real Reason Behind Push for Standardized Tests: It's All About the Adults

On standardized testing in our schools

A must read article about the standardized test industry.Written by an insider who has worked as a test scorer, the article outlines a multinational industry based on an army of temporary workers paid by the piece at $0.30 to $0.70 per test, translated in the need to grade 40 tests per hour to make a $12 salary. The article goes on to show how the companies gauge the grading "results" based on the need to ensure new contracts to continue profiting off of our youth. The original article is from Monthly Review. Here it is on Schools Matter blog.

From Sharon Higgins

Parallels between America today and Germany in the 1920's and early 30's

"Resentment and obstruction are all the right wing in America have to peddle. Their policies are utterly discredited. Their ideology - even by its own standards - is a sham. They are so bereft of leaders, their de facto leader is a former drug addicted, thrice-divorced radio talk show host. That is literally the best they can muster. But they have built a national franchise inciting the downwardly mobile to blame the government, not the right, for their problems, exactly as Hitler did in the 1920s."

Chicago View of Unity/UFT on Charters

After many meetings and debates, the Chicago delegation succeeded in working with the New York United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (UFT) to push the AFT to take stronger stands on charter school accountability and school closings — though many delegates from Chicago would have liked the language to have been even stronger.

Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose.

Ed Notes Greatest Hits: HSA Rally and Founding of GEM

Angel Gonzalez and I attended that rally and used the footage to promote our conference on Mar. 28, 2009, which is where the concept of a group like GEM emerged. Until then we had basically been a committee of ICE working with the NYCORE high stakes testing group. The actions of Eva and crew helped spawn GEM. Mommie Dearest!!

I have more video somewhere. I was hoping to get Leni Riefenstahl to edit it but she died. We would have called it "Triumph of the Hedge Fund Operators."

Video of Chicago's George Schmidt and CORE Shredding Arne Duncan and the Chicago Corporate Model

Great Post on Teacher Quality at the Morton School

I'm very tired of the myth that schools are bursting at the seams with apathetic, unskilled, surly, child-hating losers who can't get jobs doing anything else. I recently figured that, counting high school and college where one encounters many teachers in the course of a year, I had well over 100 teachers in my lifetime, and I can only say that one or two truly had no place being in a classroom.